DIRTY DOZEN 2018 Employers Who Put Workers and Communities at Risk

THE DIRTY DOZEN 2018 Employers Who Put Workers and Communities at Risk

WORKERS’ MEMORIAL WEEK • APRIL 23–30TH THE DIRTY DOZEN 2018 Employers Who Put Workers and Communities at Risk

National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH)

0 WORKERS’ MEMORIAL WEEK APRIL 23 -30TH, 2018

OUR MISSION

The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) is dedicated to promoting safe and healthy conditions for all working people through education, training, organizing and Workers’ Memorial Week: advocacy. We are a federation of twenty-one local April 23 to April 30, 2018 affiliates in fifteen states. We engage workers, labor and community allies to improve workplace This report is released to mark Workers’ practices; promote effective health and safety Memorial Week, honoring those who have programs; organize direct action against egregious been injured, suffered illnesses or lost their employers; and wage campaigns for effective lives at work. The event is observed policy. nationwide — and around the world — by surviving family members and health and Nearly all work-related injuries, illnesses and safety activists in workplaces and fatalities are preventable. National COSH supports communities. It coincides with the workers who are acting to protect their safety and anniversary of the U.S. Occupational Safety health; promotes protection from retaliation under and Health Act, which took effect on April 28, job safety laws; and provides quality information 1971. and training about workers’ rights and about hazards and controls on the job and workers’ rights.

1 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary p.3-5

Workplace Deaths: On the Rise in 2016 p.6-7

Who is at Risk? p.7-9

95,000 Deaths from Long-Term Exposure p.9

Flavoring Chemicals – A Hidden Danger p.9

The Dirty Dozen p.11-43

! Amazon p.11-13 ! Case Farms p.14-16 ! Dine Brands Global (IHOP and Applebee’s) p.17-19 ! JK Excavating p.20-22 ! Lowe’s Home p.23-25 ! Lynnway Auto Auction p.26-28 ! New York and Atlantic Railway p.29-31 ! Patterson UTI Energy p.32-34 ! Sarbanand Farms p.35-36 ! Tesla Motors p.37-39 ! Verla International p.40-41 ! Waste Management p.42-43

The COSH Network p.44-45

2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

" Workplace Deaths: On the rise in 2016 According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 5,190 people died from workplace trauma in 2016, a seven percent increase from 2015 and a 12 percent increase over a five-year period dating back to 2012. During that same five-year period, the budget for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has declined by $12 million. Deeper cuts to the agency’s budget and other safety programs were proposed for FY 2017 and 2018. After sustained and targeted advocacy by National COSH, local COSH groups, unions, worker centers and allies, however, a bipartisan majority in Congress agreed to avoid drastic cuts and maintain level funding for OSHA, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, and OSHA’s Susan Harwood Training Grant Program. " Who is most at risk? Tens of millions of workers in the U.S. suffer from unnecessary risks in the workplace because employers fail to observe well-documented safety practices. Some groups of workers, however, are more at risk than others. Latinx workers, immigrants, older workers and contract employees face particular challenges in the workplace and in 2015 each group counted for a significant share of U.S. workplace fatalities. " 95,000 Deaths form Long-Term Exposure In addition to more than 5,000 deaths from acute workplace trauma, an estimated 95,000 workers die annually in the U.S. from cancers, respiratory and circulatory diseases and other illnesses associated with long-term exposure in the workplace. " Flavoring Chemicals – A Hidden Danger Flavoring chemicals used in food production are among the lesser-known hazards to workers. These substances can cause severe lung damage and have been linked to hundreds of injuries and at least five fatalities. The chemical diacetyl and related compounds are unregulated, and exposed workers are frequently misdiagnosed. National COSH and partner organizations are working to alert employers, union workers and health professionals to the dangers of flavoring chemicals. " The Dirty Dozen National COSH solicited information from our network of health and safety activists about companies that put workers and communities at risk. Criteria for inclusion included severity of injuries to workers; exposure to unnecessary and preventable risk; repeat citations by relevant state and federal authorities; and activity by workers to improve their health and safety conditions. Companies are listed in alphabetical order, with location as the firm’s headquarters of record.

3 THE DIRTY DOZEN

AMAZON JK EXCAVATING Seattle, Washington Mason, Ohio ● Seven workers killed at Amazon ● 25-year old Zachary Hess buried warehouses since 2013 – alive in December 2017. including three workers within five ● OSHA cited JK Excavating, a repeat weeks at three separate locations offender, three times in 2014 for in 2017. failure to protect workers from ● Despite a pattern of preventable trench collapse. deaths, Amazon is requesting billions in tax breaks for a new headquarters, on top of $1 billion already received from state, local LOWE’S HOME taxpayers. IMPROVEMENT Mooresville, North Carolina ● 56 U.S. deaths linked to exposure CASE FARMS to paint strippers containing Troutman, North Carolina methylene chloride, including 17 ● 74 OSHA violations per 1,000 workers who died while refinishing employees – more than four times bathtubs. higher than any other poultry firm. ● The retail giant still sells products ● A pattern of hiring undocumented with this deadly substance, despite workers, then firing them when appeals from workers, consumers they are injured or stand up for and families. better working conditions.

LYNNWAY AUTO AUCTION DINE BRANDS GLOBAL, INC. Billerica, Massachusetts (IHOP AND APPLEBEE’S) ● Five dead in preventable auto crash – including a 37-year old Glendale, California mom working her first day on the ● Demands for sex, groping, threats job. of violence against workers. ● Lynnway cited by OSHA and warned ● More than 60 complaints about of vehicle safety hazards in 2014. sexual and harassment and abuse. ● Eight lawsuits against IHOP and Applebee’s, both owned by Dine Brands Global.

4 NEW YORK AND ATLANTIC TESLA MOTORS Fremont, California RAILWAY ● Recordable injuries 31% higher New York, New York than industry average; serious ● Workers suffer amputation, brain injuries 83% higher. injury, and impaired vision. ● The company claims a recent ● Immigrants workers face workplace improvement in injury rates – but discrimination; assigned to an independent investigation hazardous tasks without proper shows Tesla has “failed to report training and equipment. some of its serious injuries …making the company’s injury numbers look better than they actually are.” PATTERSON UTI ENERGY Houston, Texas ● Five workers dead in an explosion in Quinton, Oklahoma. VERLA INTERNATIONAL ● 110 OSHA violations and 13 New Windsor, New York workers dead in the past decade. ● Explosion kills a worker at ● U.S. Senate: Patterson "one of the cosmetics plan. worst violators of workplace safety ● 125 workers injured, eight laws.” firefighters hospitalized. ● Company previously cited for poor handling of chemicals that led to deadly blaze; safety consultant SARBANAND FARMS says disaster was “easily Sumas, Washington preventable.” ● Farm worker dies after complaining of headaches. ● 70 co-workers go on strike to protest unsafe conditions. WASTE MANAGEMENT ● Strikers are fired from their jobs Houston, Texas and evicted from company 23-Year old worker killed at a housing. • recycling facility. • Company failed to lockout/tagout machinery during repairs. • Waste Management, the nation’s largest waste disposal company, has been cited more than 60 times by OSHA, resulting in nearly $1 million in fines.

5 WORKPLACE DEATHS: ON THE RISE IN 2016

Leezandra Aponte, 37, mother of three, died on her first day on the job at an auto auction lot in Billerica, Massachusetts – after her employer had been cited for failure to protect workers from vehicle hazards.

Zachary Hess, 25, was buried alive in a trench in Mason, Ohio – after his employer had been cited for failure to protect workers from a trench collapse.

William Hamilton, 57, died in a factory explosion – after his employer had been warned about mishandling flammable chemicals.

All these deaths were preventable. These established safety protocols to reduce the workers would still be alive if their risk of injury, illness and death. employers had followed through and corrected the safety hazards identified in The 5,190 workplace deaths from acute citations issued by the U.S. Occupational trauma in 2016 is the highest number Safety and Health Administration. recorded since 2008. It is a seven percent increase from 2015 and a 12 The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), percent increase over a five-year period which compiles an annual Census of Fatal dating back to 2012. Occupational Injuries (CFOI), reports 5,190 deaths due to acute workplace During that same five-year period, the trauma in 2016, the most recent year for budget for the U.S. Occupational Safety which data are available.1 and Health Administration declined by $12 million and the number of full-time Like the tragic deaths of Leezandra OSHA staff was cut from 2,305 to 2,173, Aponte, Zachary Hess and William a reduction of 5.7 per cent.2 Hamilton, almost all these fatalities are preventable. Thousands of workers would OSHA had 815 inspectors on staff in FY still be alive and with their families today if 2016, responsible for overseeing safety in their employers had followed well- millions of U.S. workplaces. According to the AFL-CIO, “[f]ederal OSHA has enough

2 U.S. Department of Labor, FY 2017, “CONGRESSIONAL 1 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Census of Fatal BUDGET JUSTIFICATION OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY Occupational Injuries,” Dec. 19, 2017 AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION.”

6 inspectors to inspect workplaces once Despite this strong evidence that rigorous every 159 years.”3 enforcement of safety laws benefits both workers and employers, deeper cuts to the A lack of regular safety inspections puts budget for OSHA and other important workers at risk. And while employers safety programs were proposed in FY frequently complain about the high cost of 2017 and FY 2018. The proposed complying with government regulations, cutbacks included a 40 percent reduction peer-reviewed research shows that regular for the National Institute for Occupational and random safety inspections can save Safety and Health, the elimination of the employers money. U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) and David I. Levine, professor of economics at zeroing out of the Susan Harwood Training the University of California, Berkeley, and Grants Program. Harwood grants assists Michael W. Toffel, professor at the employers, union and non-profit Harvard Business School, matched safety organization in providing safety training for performance, workers compensation vulnerable workers. claims, and medical expenses at two sets After sustained and targeted advocacy by of over 400 California firms. One set of National COSH, local COSH groups, firms had been visited for random safety unions, worker centers and allies, inspections by Cal/OSHA, the state safety however, a bipartisan majority in Congress agency. The other firms had not been agreed to avoid drastic cuts and maintain inspected. level funding for OSHA and NIOSH and continue funding for CSB and the Susan According to Levine and Toffel: Harwood Training Grant Program.

Cal/OSHA’s randomized inspections did what they were supposed to do. They reduced the WHO IS MOST AT RISK? number of injuries leading to Tens of millions of U.S workers suffer from workers’ compensation claims by unnecessary risks in the workplace around 9% and lowered the because employers fail to observe well- medical expenses and wage documented safety practices, neglect to replacement paid from those follow up warnings about hazardous claims by 26%. On average, conditions and use pressure tactics to inspections lowered employers’ intimidate workers from reporting medical costs and lost earnings potential threats to their health and due to workplace injuries by about safety. $350,000 over the next few years.4 Some groups of workers, however, are more at risk than others. One of this year’s In other words, regular safety Dirty Dozen companies, for example, New inspections can reduce the risk of York and Atlantic Railway (NYAR), is being injury, illness and death for workers sued by immigrant workers who were off- – and reduce costs for employers. the-books employees at the company. The case illustrates the high cost of 3 AFL-CIO, “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, 2017,” discrimination against Latinx workers – April 26, 2017 paid by the workers themselves. 4 Harvard Business Review, “Government Regulation That Actually Works,” May 30, 2012

7 seventeen percent of all U.S. deaths from workplace trauma.7 Immigrant workers suffered 907 deaths from acute trauma at work. This represents the highest total since 2007, and 19 % of total U.S. workplace fatalities.8

NYAR hired immigrant workers from Home Depot parking lots, instructed them to enter a rail yard by climbing over a fence and told them to hide whenever federal or state safety inspectors were on the premises. The workers were subject to racial slurs and were never given proper safety training or equipment. As a result, they were exposed to a health risks in a Contract workers are also frequently hazardous environment, and workers denied proper and safety training, and are suffered amputation, brain injury, exposed to risk when staffing agencies, impaired vision and other workplace 5 direct employers and subcontractors related injuries and illnesses. attempt to evade responsibility for on-the- job safety. Eight hundred and fifty-six U.S. Nationwide, more than half of Hispanics contract workers died on the job in 2016, report they have experienced racial a 57 percent increase since 2011.9 This discrimination or unfair treatment.6 Sadly, represents 16.5 percent of total U.S. the unsafe working conditions endured by deaths from workplace trauma. workers at NYAR is not atypical. Latinx workers often do not receive proper Older workers are also at significant risk in training or safety equipment, or materials the workplace. There were 1,848 deaths in their own language. In 2016, 879 Latinx of workers over age 55 in 2016, the workers died on the job, representing highest figure since 1992. This age cohort suffered 36 percent of all U.S. deaths

5 Supreme Court of the State of New York, “Adame, Loljana et.al. vs Anacostia Rail Holdings and New York and 7 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Census of Fatal Atlantic Railway,” Feb. 14, 2018 Occupational Injuries,” Dec. 19, 2017 6 Pew Research Center, “Roughly half of Hispanics have 8 Ibid. experienced discrimination,” June 29, 2016 9 Ibid.

8 from acute workplace trauma in that to hundreds of injuries and at least five year.10 deaths.12 There are no known safe levels of exposure to diacetyl or related chemical 95,000 U.S. DEATHS FROM compounds acetyl propionyl, acetyl butyryl, and acetyl valeryl, and the LONG-TERM EXPOSURE chemicals are not subject to federal regulation. Workers who have been The 5,190 worker deaths recorded in exposed may experience symptoms 2016 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor including shortness of breath, chronic Statistics include sudden, tragic events – coughing, wheezing, fatigue and fevers. such as falling from a height, being struck by a vehicle or being crushed by a Diseases related to food flavorings are machine. often misdiagnosed as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In addition to these preventable fatalities, Food flavoring chemicals can quickly an estimated 95,000 workers in the U.S. destroy lung function, leaving exposed die each year from long-term occupational workers incapacitated and vulnerable to illnesses. This includes cancer, respiratory emphysema, bronchiolitis obliterans, and circulatory diseases and other interstitial lung disease and other fatal conditions linked to hazardous exposures conditions. in the workplace.11 Like deaths from workplace trauma, this preventable loss of Working with COSH groups, local unions, life can be reduced by applying proven workers’ centers and other, National safety practices, including worker training, COSH is engaged in a long-term engineering controls, and reduced educational campaign to alert employers, exposure to toxins. workers and health professionals to the dangers of flavoring chemicals, including FLAVORING CHEMICALS – diacetyl and related compounds. A HIDDEN DANGER THE 2018 DIRTY DOZEN One of the lesser-known hazards to There is no reason for a worker to die in a workers is the danger associated with trench collapse. Or get crushed by a exposure to chemicals used to provide vehicle on a car lot with no safety systems flavorings for everyday foods, including in place. Or to die from an explosion in a popcorn, roast coffee, candy and baked workplace where the employer has not goods. As reported in a groundbreaking implemented safeguards to prevent series in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, ignition of flammable chemicals. Yet these a food additive called diacetyl can cause preventable and tragic incidents continue severe lung damage and has been linked to take place in U.S. workplaces, as demonstrated by the stories of Leezandra Aponte, Zachary Hess, and William Hamilton. 10 Ibid. 11 Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, “Global Estimates of the Burden of Injury and Illness at 12 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Gasping for Action,” Feb. Work in 2012,” Vol. 111, 2014 – Issue 5 14, 2015

9 On behalf of these workers, their families allies to improve their health and safety and millions of others who are still conditions. exposed to unnecessary risks, we need Workers at several “Dirty Dozen” more resources for workplace health and employers are engaged in campaigns to safety programs, more inspections, more form their own unions and win collective follow-up to make sure employers are bargaining agreements. Empirical correcting identified hazards, and tougher research shows that the presence of a enforcement against those who violate union can reduce on-the-job illnesses, workplace safety laws. injuries and fatalities.13 This matches the COSH is identifying these “Dirty Dozen” experience of workplace safety employers in observance of Workers’ professionals, who know that joint union Memorial Week. Our goals include: management safety programs can provide important resources to protect all workers. ! honoring workers killed on the job; ! calling attention to ongoing workplace Note: Companies are listed by name in hazards; alphabetical order. Location is the firm’s ! empowering workers and families with headquarters of record. the knowledge to fight against and prevent future tragedies; ! calling on all employers to implement NATIONAL COSH TEAM effective worksite health and safety Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, MS, co-executive programs that involve worker director participation. Jessica E. Martinez, MPH, co-executive director HOW THE “DIRTY DOZEN” Peter Dooley, MS, CIH, CSP senior organizer WERE SELECTED Roger Kerson, communications consultant India Kushner, social media and website National COSH solicited information about manager companies that put workers and Susi Nord, administrator and conference communities at risk from our network of coordinator health and safety activists. This includes local COSH groups, workers, unions, worker centers, occupational clinics, health and safety professionals and allied groups and individuals. This information was reviewed and supplemented by the National COSH team. Many employers do not implement effective safety programs. Criteria for inclusion in the “Dirty Dozen” included severity of injuries to workers; exposure to 13Industrial and Labor Relations Review, “Coal Mine unnecessary and preventable risk; repeat Safety: Do Unions Make a Difference?” Vol. 66, No. 1, citations by relevant state and federal 2013; Working USA, “Right-to-Work Laws and Fatalities in authorities; and activity by workers and Construction,” Volume 14, Issue 2, June 2011

10 THE DIRTY DOZEN

AMAZON Seattle, Washington

● Seven workers killed at Amazon warehouses since 2013, including three workers within five weeks in 2017. ● Despite a disturbing pattern of preventable deaths, Amazon is demanding huge tax breaks for its new headquarters – on top of $1.1 billion in subsidies American state and local taxpayers have given the company since 2000. ● Amazon workers suffer injuries – and sometimes lose their lives – in a work environment with a relentless demand to fill orders and close monitoring of employee actions.

Left to right: Devan Michael Shoemaker, Phillip Terry and Karla Kay Arnold, three Amazon workers dead within five weeks in September and October 2017.

On Sept. 19, 2017, Devan Michael Four weeks later, on October 23, Karla Shoemaker, 28, was killed when he was Kay Arnold, 50, died from multiple injuries run over by a truck at an Amazon after she was hit by a sports utility vehicle warehouse in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. in the parking lot of an Amazon warehouse in Monee, Illinois. Six days later, on September 23, Phillip Terry, 59, was killed when his head was Devan Shoemaker, Phillip Terry and Karla crushed by a forklift at an Amazon Way Wyatt died during the beginning of warehouse in Plainfield, Indiana. holiday rush shipping season at Amazon, one of the most intense periods in one of the world’s most intense workplaces. But

11 they are only three of seven workers who characteristics, coupled with the lack of have died at Amazon facilities since 2013. an intentional health and safety system Other workers who lost their lives include: program, are a recipe for disaster.

● Jeff Lockhart, 29, a temporary Even as Amazon workers are injured and employee, found collapsed and die on the job, the company is playing dead from a cardiac event after an locality against locality to see which overnight shift at an Amazon taxpayers will pay the most for the warehouse in Chester, VA on privilege of hosting “H2Q,” Amazon's January 19th, 2013. proposed second headquarters. Newark, New Jersey, one of twenty finalists, is ● Roland Smith, 57, a temporary offering the online retailing giant $7 billion employee, killed after being in taxpayer subsidies. dragged and crushed by a conveyor belt at an Amazon warehouse in Regardless of which locality “wins,” the Avenel, New Jersey on December net result almost certainly won't be more jobs. The Institute for Local Self Reliance 4th, 2013. estimates that as of 2015, Amazon’s ● Jody Rhoads, 52, crushed and operations have caused a net loss of pinned to death by a pallet loader some 149,000 U.S. jobs, by squeezing out at an Amazon warehouse in small businesses and other competitors. Carlisle, Pennsylvania on June 1st, Work in an Amazon warehouse, says the 2014. (This is the same facility Institute, “resembles labor’s distant past where Shoemaker was killed in more than a promising future, with many September). workers performing grueling and under- paid jobs, getting trapped in precarious ● Name unknown, crushed to death temporary positions, or doing on-demand by a forklift at an Amazon assignments that are paid by the piece.” warehouse in Fernley, NV on November 4th, 2014. In January 2018, Amazon received a patent that will allow even more intrusive

Jeff Bezos, CEO and principal owner of monitoring of its workforce. The new Amazon, is currently ranked as the richest ultrasonic wristbands – not yet in use – person in the world, with a fortune worth can record each worker’s hand over $100 billion. His vast wealth movements and “buzz” a worker’s wrist if depends, in large part, on a business he or she makes a movement in the wrong model that features a relentless work direction. “Amazon’s new idea,” says the pace and constant monitoring of tech blog Gizmodo, “goes to extremes to employees. These workplace treat employees like fleshy robots.”

Agenda for Action: Improved Working Conditions for Warehouse Workers

• Many companies, including Amazon, contract with temp agencies, creating a vulnerable workforce with unclear lines of accountability for health and safety.

• In California, temporary warehouse worker Domingo Blancas nearly died from heat stress in 2011 while working in a metal container at a temperature of 110 degrees.

Worksafe, a COSH affiliate based in Oakland, joined a coalition of labor and safety advocates • to press and win a new law directing Cal/OSHA to establish a heat stress rule for indoor

workers.

In Chicago, Warehouse Workers for Justice and other worker centers won a new state law • that strengthens protections for temporary workers.

• Advocates in other parts of the country are using these victories as a model to win better safety and health protections.

Sources: NJ.com, “Why is Newark keeping details of $7B Amazon bid secret?”, Feb. 24, 2018 Gizmodo, Amazon Patents Wristband to Track Hand Movements of Warehouse Employees, “ Jan. 31, 2018; recode, “Amazon faces fines following the death of a second warehouse worker in as many months,” Nov. 9, 2017; Chicago Tribune, “Amazon employee killed after being hit by vehicle in Monee parking lot,” Oct. 24, 2017; EHS Today, “Two Worker Deaths in September at Different Amazon Warehouses Spawn Concern from Worker Advocates,” Oct. 5, 2017; PennLive.com, New details released in death of Amazon warehouse worker, Sept. 28, 2017; Institute for Local Self Reliance, “Amazon’s Stranglehold: How the Company’s Tightening Grip Is Stifling Competition, Eroding Jobs, and Threatening Communities, “ Nov. 2016; Lexology, “New California Law Protects Workers from Indoor Heat Exposure,” Oct. 20, 2016; Huffington Post, “The Life and Death of an Amazon Warehouse Temp,” Oct. 21, 2015; Worksafe, “Decision: Employers Found in Violation of Law for Indoor Heat Hazards,” October 8, 2015; Los Angeles Times, “Two deaths at Amazon warehouses being investigated by OSHA,” June 16, 2014

CASE FARMS Troutman, North Carolina

● A pattern of hiring undocumented workers, then firing them when they are injured or stand up for better working conditions

● 74 OSHA violations per 1,000 employees – more than four times higher than any other poultry firm

● Workers frequently wear diapers because they aren't allowed time for bathroom breaks

Photo by Earl Dotter

In the late afternoon of April 17, 2015, 17- automatically turned on, pulling and year-old Osiel López Pérez was assigned twisting until it “literally ripped off his left to clean away meat, blood and grease leg.” accumulated after a day of killing and At age 17, López Pérez was too young to carving over 180,000 chickens at a Case be working in a slaughterhouse. He was Farms slaughterhouse in Canton, Ohio. also an undocumented immigrant, hired

As reported by Michael Grabell in a 2017 with an ID card from his 28-year old investigation jointly published by brother. But while Case Farms hadn't ProPublica and The New Yorker, López cared much about his work eligibility when Pérez himself was carved up that day the company's sanitation contractor hired inside a machine called a liver-giblet him, his immigration status was suddenly chiller. With no ladder available, López important once he lost his leg. Within days Pérez had to climb on top of the he and several other undocumented contraption. He slipped and fell; the workers found themselves out of a job. paddles of the liver-giblet chiller

Case Farms, one of the nation’s top meat conditions, the company has used and poultry producers, supplies chicken to their immigration status to get rid of major customers including Taco Bell, vocal workers, avoid paying for Boar’s Head and the U.S. government’s injuries, and quash dissent. school lunch program. Between 2015 and 2018, Case Farms was cited by OSHA for Case Farms' policy of firing undocumented 240 safety violations. Former OSHA chief workers who are injured or who protest Dr. David Michaels described the company working conditions takes advantage of a as “an outrageously dangerous place to 2002 US Supreme Court ruling. In work.” Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB, the court ruled that although In 2015, OSHA added Case to its “Severe undocumented workers have the right to Violator Enforcement Program,” reserved complain about labor law violations, for companies that have “demonstrated companies are under no obligation to re- indifference to their OSH Act obligations by hire them or give them back pay even if willful, repeated, or failure-to-abate they win their cases. violations.” Between 2010 and 2016, Case Farms was cited by OSHA 74 times In addition to subjecting workers to high for every 1,000 employees, a rate more rates of injury, Case Farms also threatens than four times higher than any other workers health and undermines their poultry firm. dignity by routinely denying time for bathroom breaks. “What most might not Why does Case stand out as uniquely expect to be worn by a hard-working dangerous in an industry that is known for adult,” reports the Morgantown News a high rate of serious injuries? The Herald, “is a diaper.” company’s business model, reports Grabell, is based on exploitation of On August 14, 2017, workers protested vulnerable workers: outside the Case Farms slaughterhouse in Morganton, North Carolina. “They won’t let Case Farms has built its business by you go to the bathroom if you ask to go to recruiting some of the world’s most the bathroom,” said Irma Matul, who vulnerable immigrants, who endure spent six years at Case deboning harsh and at times illegal conditions chickens. “Sometimes they even shame that few Americans would put up the workers that need to go to the with. When these workers have bathroom.” fought for higher pay and better

Agenda for Action: Fighting – and Defeating – an Attempt to

Speed Up Work in Poultry Plants • Poultry workers, including those at Case Farms, won a major victory in February 2018 when the USDA rejected an industry request to speed up production lines inside poultry

plants. The industry-backed proposal would have exposed workers to even more risk of injury and reduced inspections, exposing consumers to health risks.

• The plan was opposed by a broad coalition of labor organizations, safety advocates and animal welfare groups.

• USDA received more than 100,000 comments on the proposal, almost all of which urged the agency to reject it.

• The Northwest Arkansas Workers’ Justice Center, a COSH affiliate, played a key role by documenting dangerous working conditions inside poultry plants.

• USDA has now proposed a similar industry-backed plan to speed up production and reduce inspections in the pork processing industry.

Sources: Safety+Health, “USDA denies industry petition to increase poultry-processing line speeds,” Feb. 21, 2018; National COSH, “National COSH and Safety Experts on USDA Proposal: Faster Line Speeds in U.S. Pork Plants Will Increase Risk of Worker Injuries and Food Contamination,” Jan. 19, 2018; Morganton News Herald, “Groups protest outside Case Farms for right to use bathroom,” August 14, 2017; The New Yorker, “Exploitation and Abuse at the Chicken Plant,” May 1, 2017 (co-published at ProPublica.org as “Sold for Parts,” May 1, 2017; National Employment Law Project, “Severe Injury Data from 29 States,” April 2017; Business Ethics, “OSHA’s Wall of Shame: Agency Targets ‘Severe Violators,’” Dec. 19, 2016; Northwest Arkansas Workers’ Justice Center, “WAGES AND WORKING CONDITIONS IN ARKANSAS POULTRY PLANTS,” Feb. 2, 2016

DINE BRANDS GLOBAL, INC. IHOP AND APPLEBEE'S Glendale, California

● More than 60 complaints of sexual harassment and abuse

● Eight lawsuits against IHOP and Applebee’s, both owned by Dine Brands Global

● Demands for sex, groping, threats of violence against workers

● When chain restaurants are owned by franchisees, who is in charge of keeping employees safe?

Demands for sex. Being groped on the job. comments about her genitals, and Being forced up against a counter with a asked her for sex.” knife. These and other instances of sexual ● A waitress at an Applebee’s in Myrtle harassment and assault have led 60 Beach, South Carolina reported that a women to lodge complaints against IHOP supervisor “repeatedly came up and Applebee’s restaurants, according to behind her, grabbed both of her a February 2018 exposé published by breasts, and rubbed his crotch against Vox.com. her ... [H]e asked her several times for sex and once straddled her head Both restaurant brands are owned by Dine between his legs when she was bent Brands Global, although individual IHOP over cleaning.” and Applebee’s outlets are owned by separate franchisees. A new legal According to an analysis by the Center for standard which would hold brand American Progress, workers filed over operators like Dine Global responsible for 5,400 claims of sexual harassment protecting workers is under challenge against hotel and restaurant firms before the National Labor Relations between 2005 and 2015, more than Board. against any other industry.

A few of the incidents uncovered by Vox: Responding to Vox, Dine Brands claimed that it has no tolerance for sexual ● A 16-year waitress at an IHOP harassment – and that it is up to restaurant in suburban St. Louis individual franchisees to handle claims of reported that a manager “threatened misconduct. The company said that both to ‘get violent’ if she didn’t have sex Applebee’s and IHOP: with him,” Ten of her co-workers described similar experiences. “are 100% franchised and all 3,700 ● A waitress at a Las Vegas IHOP “said restaurants nationwide are owned managers and cooks called her vulgar and operated by entrepreneurs names, touched her buttocks, made dedicated to serving their communities. Each franchisee

17 establishes and adheres to their own strict policies against What is clear, however, is that companies harassment in the workplace. Our like Dine Brands exercise tight control organization and franchisees are over franchisees. The agreement between fiercely committed to maintaining a Dine Brands and IHOP franchisees, for safe and empowering environment example, states that franchisees are for all team members.” expected to complete a six-week, 45 to 50 hour per week training program covering For many years, franchise operators like “various Restaurant management topics, Dine Brands have been able to escape including effective team leadership, guest responsibility for claims of sexual safety, daily manager workflow, effective harassment, safety violations, wage theft scheduling, productivity management, and other workplace issues by claiming Restaurant hospitality, revenue that workers at individual franchises are accounting procedures, [and] team not employees of any parent organization. member training.” The Applebee's agreement also includes extensive Two recent cases before the National training for managers, and chain Labor Relations Board – McDonald’s and restaurants typically have strict standards Browning Ferris – established a joint for menus, décor, ingredients, service and liability standard. The cases held that pricing. franchise operators like McDonald’s and firms like Browning Ferris, which uses Both the IHOP and Applebee’s agreements temporary employment firms to staff its appear to be silent, however, on the facilities, could be held jointly responsible responsibility of franchisees to learn about for labor law violations. Both decisions, laws and regulations against sexual however, are under review by the current harassment and sexual assault of NLRB, and it’s not yet clear what legal employees. standard will emerge.

Agenda for Action: Legal Support, New Ordinances, New National COSH Initiative to Prevent Harassment and Abuse • In January 2018, The National Women’s Law Center introduced the “Time’s Up” Legal Defense Fund,” to provide legal support to victims of sexual misconduct.

• In Chicago, the “Hands off, Pants on” campaign by members of Unite HERE Local 1 put a spotlight on harassment and abuse in the hospitality industry. Workers won a new ordinance requiring training and policies to prevent abuse and a portable panic button for those working alone.

• In May 2018, National COSH will launch a first-of-its-kind Sexual Harassment Action Network to support public policy campaigns and workplace efforts to confront sexual harassment and abuse.

Sources: New York Times, “Push to Settle McDonald’s Case, a Threat to Franchise Model,” March 19, 2018; Politico, “Joint Employer Reversal,” Feb. 27, 2018; Vox.com, “More than 60 women have filed sexual harassment complaints against IHOP, Applebee’s restaurants,” Feb. 7, 2018; National Women’s Law Center, “Women Leaders Launch “Time’s Up” Campaign to Eradicate Abuse of Power, Shift Leadership Imbalances, and Promote Equality,” Jan. 1, 2018; Center for American Progress, “Not Just the Rich and Famous,” Nov. 20 2017; Chicago Sun Times, “Aldermen approve proposal to protect sexually harassed hotel staff,” October 2, 2017; Franchise Direct, International House of Pancakes (IHOP) Franchise Cost & Fees, 2017; Franchise Direct, Applebee’s Franchise Cost and Fees, 2017

JK Excavating Mason, Ohio

● 25-year old Zachary Hess buried alive in December 2017

● 150 emergency responders spend 11 hours trying to rescue him

● JK Excavating, a repeat offender, was cited by OSHA three times in 2014 for failure to protect workers from trench collapse

Zachary Hess, a handsome man with a beautiful spirit,” died in a trench at JK Excavating. The company had previously been fined for

failure to protect workers from trench collapse.

Zachary Hess was just 25 years old when morning, December 28. Hess – he was buried alive under thirty feet of remembered by his mother as “a mud, dirt and debris in a trench at a handsome man with a beautiful spirit” – construction site in Morrow, Ohio. Hess was dead by the time his body was was working in a trench on a subdivision uncovered in the early hours of December in Morrow, about 30 miles northwest of 29. Cincinnati. Trench collapse is a well-known hazard in More than 150 rescue workers from the construction industry and has been Salem Township and surrounding known for hundreds of years. A single communities spent hours trying to rescue cubic yard of soil can weigh up to 3,000 Hess after an apparently unsupported pounds, creating enormous risk for trench collapsed around him on Thursday workers when trench walls are not

20 properly protected from collapse. Twenty- ● Workers “in the bottom of an open three U.S. workers died in trench collapses excavation area, while being exposed in 2016, more than double the number of to materials and equipment [at risk of] fatalities in 2015. falling into the excavation on top of them, posing a crushing/struck-by Zachary Hess’ tragic death could have hazard.” been prevented if JK Excavating had ● “Walls of the excavation not properly followed established safety procedures, sloped, shored, benched or otherwise including the installation of trench boxes, adequately protected against shoring up trench walls and providing collapsed.” workers a way to get out of a trench in an emergency. OSHA proposed $13,300 in fines for the proposed citations; the case was settled Incredibly, just three years before Hess when JK Excavating agreed to pay $5,800. was killed on a JC Excavating job site, the company was cited by the U.S. Following Hess’ tragic death, Daniel Wood, Occupational Safety and Health a safety specialist for JK Excavating, Administration (OSHA) for violating the stated the company had “obtained the very rules that could have saved his life. services of a third party Safety Consultant to lead JK Excavating in our own internal Following an inspection on a JK Excavating root cause investigation to this horrific worksite in Hamilton Ohio, OSHA issued incident.” three citations for “serious” violations: It’s not hard to predict what a competent ● A worker in a 7-foot trench with no safety consultant will recommend to ladder or “suitable means of access or anyone in the excavation business: If you egress”; want workers to go home safely, follow the rules to prevent trench collapse.

Agenda for Action: New Penalties, Protections to Prevent Trench Collapse

● After the preventable death in a 2015 trench collapse of immigrant worker Carlos

Macayo in New York, employers Harco Construction and Sky Materials were convicted of criminally negligent homicide but paid minimal penalties under existing New York state law.

● NYCOSH, along with worker and safety advocates, is pushing for “Carlos’ Law,” to increase penalties for willful actions which cause workers to die on the job.

● In 2016, Kelvin Mattocks and Robert Higgins died in in a preventable 2016 trench collapse in Boston. Their employer, Atlantic Drain Services, had been previously cited

for failure to observe trench safety rules. Following the tragedy, MassCOSH joined with labor and community advocates to win a new ordinance requiring companies seeking construction permits to disclose previous safety violations and giving city officials power to deny or delay permitting.

Sources: NYCOSH, “Deadly Skyline: An Annual Report on Construction Fatalities in New York State,” Jan. 2018; Construction Dive, “Boston passes regulation allowing city to deny building permits based on safety history,” Dec. 20, 2016; Dayton Daily News, “More than 150 people tried to save man who died in Warren County trench,” Dec. 29, 2017; JournalNews.com, “Employer in fatal trench collapse paid $5,800 fine in 2014,” Dec. 29, 2017; WLWT-TV, “Victim of trench collapse remembered for his 'beautiful spirit'” Dec. 29, 2017; U.S OSHA, “Ohio worker's death highlights grim 2016 national stat: trench collapse fatalities have more than doubled,” Nov. 17, 2016

LOWE’S HOME IMPROVEMENT Mooresville, North Carolina

● Retail giant still sells paint strippers containing methylene chloride

● 56 U.S. deaths linked to exposure, including 17 workers

● Proposed EPA ban on methylene chloride stalled due to industry lobbying

Drew Wynne died in October 2017 from exposure to methylene chloride after

using “Goof Off,” a commonly available paint stripper. Solvents containing the

deadly chemical are still for sale at Lowe’s and other retail stores.

Drew Wynne, 31, was the co-founder of over again. That's a phone call I'll never Riptide Coffee in North Charleston, South forget."

Carolina. ON October 13, 2017, he set to According to coroner’s autopsy report, work stripping the floor of a refrigerator at Drew Wynne died from methylene chloride his business, using Goof Off, a commonly poisoning. The toxic chemical, found in available solvent. many paint stripping products, can be The next day, Drew’s business partner highly toxic, even in small doses, after as found him dead on the floor. In tears, he little of five minutes of exposure. called Drew’s family. "He said, 'He's gone. When inhaled, methylene chloride He's gone.'” Drew’s brother Clayton told metabolizes into carbon monoxide, which CBS News. “He screamed that over and can shut off the supply of oxygen to the

23 heart and brain. Some who are exposed, deaths linked to methylene chloride like Drew Wynne, can suffer sudden exposure since 1980. death. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that some 32,000 Wynne purchased the Goof Off that killed workers and 1.3 million consumers are him at a nearby outlet of Lowe’s Home. exposed each year to methylene chloride Several months earlier, in February, the in paint stripping products. In 2016, the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families EPA proposed a ban on the toxic chemical, coalition wrote to Lowe’s CEO Robert but the proposed regulation has been Niblock. The coalition asked the giant blocked by industry lobbying. retailer, one of the largest sellers of home repair products in the world, to identify Methylene chloride is especially and remove products containing hazardous when used to strip paint and methylene chloride from the shelves of its enamel coatings from bathtubs, a 2,300 U.S. stores. To date, Lowe’s has not common practice. Bathrooms often have acted to stop selling this potentially lethal limited ventilation, so there is little fresh substance. air available to counteract dangerous toxic fumes. The vapor emitted by methylene Methylene chloride poisoning has cost the chloride is concentrated in the tub, right lives of dozens of workers and consumers. where workers are trying to breathe. According to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 17 “No family should lose a loved one workers died over a 15-year period while because of deadly chemicals,” says using stripping products containing Drew’s mother, Cindy Wynne. “To this methylene chloride to refinish bathtubs. day, you can walk into Lowe’s and other The Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit home improvement retailers and buy the investigative news organization, found 56 same product that killed Drew—plus numerous others containing the same chemical.”

Agenda for Action: 49,000+ Petition Signatures; Training for Affected Workers

● In March 2018, Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families launched an online petition to convince Lowe’s to stop selling products with methylene chloride. In less than a month, the appeal has already received more than 49,000 signatures.

● Local COSH groups are providing targeted training to low-wage workers on how to identify hazardous chemicals and advocate for safer alternatives.

Sources: Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, “Grieving parents & health advocates urge Lowe’s to pull deadly paint strippers from store shelves,” Mar. 29, 2018; CBS News, “Deaths linked to a common paint stripper chemical go back decades, so why isn't it banned?,” Mar. 29, 2018; March 29, 2018; Web MD, “Mother Questions Use of Chemical After Son's Death,” July 14, 2017; OSHA Fatal Facts, “Lethal Exposure to Methylene Chloride during Bathtub Refinishing,” 2016; Center for Public Integrity, “Common solvent keeps killing workers, consumers,” Sept. 21, 2015

LYNNWAY AUTO AUCTION Billerica, Massachusetts

• Cited by OSHA and warned of vehicle safety hazards in 2014, but failed to take adequate precautions

• Three years later, five dead in preventable auto crash – including a 37- year old mom working her first day on the job

• 16 serious citations, $267,000 in recommended fines; temp agency also cited

Leezandra Aponte, a temp employee, died two hours into her first day on the job at Lynnway Auto Auction

Lynnway Auto Auction, where 5 people company failed to take adequate were killed in an auto crash on May 3, precautions, reports the Lowell Sun. 2017, had previously been notified about The auto auction was warned. safety issues. Install additional safety Located in Billerica, MA, just south of measures, such as barriers, Lowell, Lynnway is one of the largest auto caution tape or traffic cones. But sales lots in New England and draws big Lynnway Auto Auction failed to crowds to its sales events. Moving make adjustments. Then came vehicles through a large gathering of more safety citations, allegations people is a significant safety risk, but the of negligence and lawsuits. However, the company didn't do

26 enough to ensure cars stay on Ruben Espaillat, 55, of Methuen MA. course. ● He ran a cleaning company in In 2014, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Methuen and occasionally purchased Health Administration (OSHA) cited vehicles for resale. Lynnway for two serious violations, ● Elliott Rowlands Jr., 50, of Buzzards including failure to “require the use of Bay, MA, a sales manager for traffic control devices while employees Chuckran Auto Parts. performed maintenance tasks among ● Pantaleon Santos, 49, of Cumberland, moving vehicles.” RI, a seller for Plainfield Auto Center, Providence. Three years later, there were still no ● Brenda Lopez, 48, of Lincoln, RI. barriers in place when a Lynnway employee with a suspended driver’s After an investigation of the fatal crash, license and a history of vehicle crashes OSHA issued 16 citations against Lynnway lost control of a Jeep Cherokee hurtling in November 2017, recommending over through a crowd until the vehicle slammed $267,000 in fines. “This company was into a wall. Five people were killed, cited in 2014 for exposing employees to including a temp employee and four similar hazards,” said Galen Blanton, auction customers. regional administrator for OSHA in Boston. “It is critically important that employers Among the victims of this preventable remain vigilant about safety and tragedy was Leezandra Aponte, 37, a implement required safety measures.” mother of three. Recently laid off, she Lynnway was cited for “motor vehicle signed up with a temp agency and was hazards, blocked exit routes, violations of assigned to Lynnway Auto Auction. May 3, the hazard communication standard, and 2017 was her first day on the job. recordkeeping deficiencies.”

“She was there for about two hours, then I OSHA also investigated TrueBlue Inc, got the phone call,” said Orlando Aponte, doing business as PeopleReady, the firm choking back tears as he spoke to that hired Leezandra Aponte and assigned reporters after learning of her sister’s her to Lynnway. TrueBlue was cited for a death. “She just got this job, she was serious violation for a “struck-by” hazard, saving money for my niece’s sweet 15.” with a proposed fine of $12,675. Others who lost their lives that day:

Agenda for Action: Agreement on Penalties and Corrective Action

● In April 2018, Lynnway reached a settlement with OSHA, agreeing to pay $200,000 in fines. The company will also correct safety hazards and implement a traffic control program, including weekly driver safety meetings.

● People Ready agreed to pay $12,675 in fines and to develop a safe driving program, with annual training, for auto auction drivers.

Sources: Safety Unlimited News Service, “Car Auction Co and Staffing Agency Pay Hefty OSHA Penalties,” Apr. 13, 2018; U.S. OSHA, “U.S. Department of Labor Cites Lynnway Auto Auction For Exposing Employees to Numerous Hazards,” Nov. 19, 2017; Lowell Sun, “After Billerica auto-auction tragedy, lawsuits and questions loom,” May 22, 2017; Boston Globe, “Mother killed in Billerica crash was working her first day on the job,” May 3, 2017; New England Cable Network; “'She Loved Her Family': Brother IDs Car Auction Crash Victim,” May 3, 2017; MassLive.com, Lynnway Auto Auction, where 3 people were killed, was cited for two serious violations by OSHA in 2014,” May 3, 2017

NEW YORK AND ATLANTIC RAILWAY New York, New York

● Immigrant workers face workplace discrimination and are assigned to hazardous tasks without proper training and equipment

● Workers suffer amputation, brain injury, impaired vision

● Supervisors give workers false credentials, tell them to hide from safety inspectors

At NYAR Railway, immigrant workers were given hazardous tasks without proper equipment or training and told to hide when federal or state inspectors were on site.

“When we were working on the tracks in miles of tracks owned by the Long Island Long Island City, because of a lack of Rail Road (LIRR), a public transit agency. training, a man lost his fingers,” recalls Antonio Adame, a former worker at New The lawsuit, filed in New York state court York and Atlantic Railway (NYAR). “I didn’t in February 2018, names NYAR and three see it happen, but I saw the finger lying on of its executives, Bruce A. Lieberman, the ground. I felt fear in my whole body.” Peter Gilbertson, and Paul Victor.

Adame is one of a group of 18 workers Adame and his co-workers say they were from Mexico, Ecuador and the Dominican exposed to unsafe working conditions and Republic who are suing NYAR, a private never provided with training or equipment firm that hauls freight across hundreds of needed to carry out hazardous work

29 assignments. They suffered injuries instructed to hide in nearby bushes or including amputation, a traumatic brain behind rail cars whenever federal or state injury, impaired vision and rashes. inspectors were on site.

NYAR and its executives, workers say, “They were treated as if they were created fraudulent “certifications” which disposable,” Kristina Mazzocchi, an falsely claimed that workers were trained attorney representing the workers, told and qualified to work in rail yards, where The New York Times. “They were they repaired broken rails, operated chain subjected to deplorable health and safety saws, and were exposed to pesticides and conditions.” other toxic chemicals. The immigrant workers, who were paid off The lawsuit documents that immigrant the books in cash -- $120 a day for shifts workers were hired from informal “shape- that sometimes lasted 12 hours or more – ups” at Home Depot parking lots. One of are also suing for wage theft and racial the plaintiffs, Franklin Lopez, said that to discrimination. Immigrant workers were get to their jobs in the railyard, “workers given the most hazardous assignments, were instructed to climb a wall there and given inferior clothing and equipment, and jump over a fence.” were subject to repeated racial slurs and insults. The U.S. rail industry operates under numerous federal and state regulations to “As soon as I arrived, I said my name is protect workers and passenger from Robney,” says Robney Carabajo, also a hazards associated with working and plaintiff. “But they told me they’d call me traveling on fast-moving, heavy ‘Pancho’ because it was easier for them to equipment. But NYAR executives went to pronounce. They called another guy ‘King extraordinary lengths to avoid complying Kong.’ No one likes to be called a slur. with safety rules, workers say. They were Everyone should be called by their name.”

Agenda for Action: Calls to End Contract; Begin Federal Investigation

● After learning of safety hazards documented by immigrant workers in their lawsuit, union and community leaders called for the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) to terminate its contract with New York and Atlantic Railway (NYAR).

● Anthony Simon, general chairman of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Union (SMART) said that LIRR should cancel its contract with NYAR. Trained and qualified SMART members – who are already LIRR employees – can maintain New York-area freight lines.

● Mary Parisen of Civics United for Railroad Environmental Solutions, endorsed the proposal to hire trained union workers as a way to ensure safety on LIRR tracks.

● Rep. Kathleen Rice, who represents Nassau County in Congress, called on the Federal Railway Administration to investigate NYAR safety practices.

Sources: LongIsland.com, “Rep. Rice Calls on Federal Railroad Administration to Ensure LIRR Freight Rail Safety,” Mar. 7 2018; New York Newsday, “LIRR should run own freight service again, union chief says,” Mar. 5th, 2018; New York Times, “Railway Workers Sue, Citing Discrimination and Low Pay,” Feb. 14, 2018; Supreme Court of the State of New York, “Adame, Loljana et.al. vs Anacostia Rail Holdings and New York and Atlantic Railway,” Feb. 14, 2018; Mirer Mazzocchi Julien & Chickedantz, PLLC “NYAR Workers,” video recording.

PATTERSON UTI ENERGY Houston, Texas

● Five workers dead in an explosion in Quinton, Oklahoma

● 110 OSHA violations and 13 workers dead in the past decade

● U.S. Senate: Patterson "one of the worst violators of workplace safety laws”

Inspections underway at site of gas well explosion in Quinton,

Oklahoma, one of the worst onshore drilling disasters in U.S. history.

On January 21 of this year, five workers in of the drilling platform. Their bodies were Quinton, Oklahoma lost their lives after an so severely burned that the medical explosion on a natural gas drilling platform examiner had to request dental records operated by Patterson UTI. The Texas- from the victims’ families to make a based company has a long history of definitive identification. safety violations, including a death toll that now adds up to 13 workers in the last The workers who died are: decade. ● Roger Cunningham, 55, of Seminole, Due to burning fires after the explosion, it Oklahoma took 29 hours to recover the bodies of the ● Josh Ray, 35, of Fort Worth, Texas workers who died in Quinton. They were ● Cody Risk, 26, of Wellington, Colorado found in the “doghouse,” or control room ● Matt Smith, 29, of McAlester, Oklahoma

● Parker Waldridge, 60, of Crescent, incident report by an OCC inspector Oklahoma reported a "confirmed violation" of agency rules. The disaster in Quinton was one of the worse onshore drilling incidents in U.S. OSHA’s authority to cite employers for history, and the deadliest event in the oil safety violations at oil and gas wells is and gas industry – onshore or offshore – limited because the industry is specifically since 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig exempted from an agency standard on explosion. Red Mountain LLC, based in “Process Safety Management of Highly Oklahoma, owns the welling site and hired Hazardous Chemicals.” The exemption Patterson UTI to operate it. was granted in 1992, reports the Tulsa World, because “separate regulatory rules According to Reuters, OSHA has cited the specific to the [oil and gas] industry were company 110 times in the past decade, to be developed. However, that never and it has the second-worst fatality rate in materialized as the matter later was the oil and gas industry. In 2008, a report dropped from the agency’s regulatory from the U.S. Senate Committee on agenda.” Health, Education, Labor and Pensions described Patterson as “one of the worst Like other companies, however, Patterson violators of workplace safety laws.” UTI is subject to OSHA’s general duty clause. This requires employers to provide The January disaster is currently under workplaces that are “free from investigation by OSHA, the U.S. Chemical recognizable hazards that are causing or Safety Board, and the Oklahoma likely to cause death or serious harm to Corporation Commission (OCC). An initial employees.”

Agenda for Action: Oversight, Consensus on Standards Needed

• The oil and gas industry has operated outside of OSHA’s Process Safety Management Standard since 1992 and has not stepped in to create an alternative industry-wide consensus standard.

• The loss of lives at BP-owned Deepwater Horizon, Patterson-UTI, West Fertilizer Company and other incidents shows ongoing risk to workers, residents and the environment.

• Joint health and safety programs, such as those developed by the United Steelworkers – who represent many workers in oil and gas refineries – have made significant gains and can serve as a model for this industry.

Sources: Tulsa World, “OSHA standards moot in Quinton rig explosion because of exemption for oil-and-gas industry,” Feb. 3, 2018; Reuters, “Driller at center of Oklahoma well blast has history of deadly accidents,” Jan. 26, 2018; E&E News, “Rig wreckage probed for cause of deadly Okla. Blast,” Jan. 24, 2018; Tulsa World, ”Officials describe harrowing scene as explosion ignited deadly inferno at drilling rig,” Jan. 23, 2018.

34 SARBANAND FARMS Sumas, Washington

● After blueberry picker Honesto Silva Ibarra is hospitalized in August 2017, 70 co-workers go on strike to protest unsafe conditions. ● The strikers are fired from their jobs and evicted. ● Without shade, rest breaks, and adequate food and water, farmworkers suffer from “dizziness, headaches, partial facial paralysis.”

Farmworkers demand answers after the death of Honesto Silva Ibarra Photo by Edgar Banks

During the first week of August 2017, from Mexico with an H2A agricultural visa farmworker Honesto Silva Ibarra provided by the company and its labor complained of headaches at his job in contractor, CSI Visa Processing. Washington state for Sarbanand Farms, Sarbanand Farms is a subsidiary of one of the nation’s largest producers of California-based Munger Farms. fresh blueberries. His supervisor ignored his concerns and refused his request for a Ibarra later collapsed, was taken to a ride to the airport so he could return to medical clinic and diagnosed with Mexico. dehydration. He was transferred to Harborview Hospital in Seattle, where he Like more than 600 others at Sarbanand died a few days later. Ibarra was 28 years Farms, Ibarra was a legal migrant worker

35 old at the time of his death and the father Following an investigation, the Washington of three children. Department of Labor and Industries (DLI) stated in February 2018 that Ibarra’s On Friday August 4, while Ibarra was still death was unrelated to his job in the being treated at Harborview, 70 of his co- blueberry fields. The agency cited an workers went on a one-day strike to autopsy from the King County Medical protest unsafe conditions. The next Examiner finding that Ibarra – who was morning, Sarbana d Farms fired the n diabetic – died from “natural causes.” striking workers and evicted them from (Diabetes, when properly treated, is not a company-provided housing. fatal condition.) The fired workers camped out at the home The DLI did find, however, that Sarbana d of a nearby supporter and continued their n Farms – which charges workers $12 a day protest with support from Familias Unidas for meals –failed to provide adequate food por la Justicia, a farmworkers union based and rest breaks for workers. The agency in Burlington, WA and Community to levied a fine of $149,800 against the Community, an advocacy group in company, its largest ever for agricultural Bellingham. meal and rest violations.

Call to Action: Class Action Lawsuit Against Sarbanand Farms

● In January 2018, former workers at Sarbanand Farms filed a class action lawsuit against the company, stating they were subject to forced labor, unsafe conditions and required to live in a fenced-in labor camp. ● The legal claim is based on testimony from farmworkers who reported they were forced to work up to 12 hours a day; discouraged from using sick time; required to work in “sunbaked fields with hazy smoke,” and denied adequate shade, water and nutrition. ● “H-2A agricultural workers are the most vulnerable and least protected farm workers in our country,” said Columbia Legal Services attorney Joe Morrison, who is representing the workers. “You cannot import thousands of workers… exclude them from key labor laws and expect that everything will work out fine.”

Sources: 2018; Seattle Times, “Dozens of Mexican workers left in limbo after Whatcom County farm walkout,” August 11, 2017; The Stranger, “Working Conditions at Washington Blueberry Farm Amounted to Forced Labor, Lawsuit Claims,” Jan. 25, 2018; The Stranger, “State Fines Sarbanand Farms $150,000 for Failing to Give Workers Breaks,” Feb. 1, 2018; BARBARO ROSAS and GUADALUPE TAPIA, vs. SARBANAND FARMS, LLC, MUNGER BROS., LLC., and CSI VISA PROCESSING USA, LLC., U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington, No. 18-CV-00112

36 TESLA MOTORS Fremont, California

● “A company of the future under working conditions of the past” ● Recordable injuries 31% higher than industry average

● Serious injuries 83% higher than industry average. ● The company claims a recent reduction in injuries, but an independent investigation finds the company “has failed to report some of its serious injuries,” so that “injury numbers look better than they actually are.”

Tesla workers in Fremont, CA rally for safe working conditions and workplace rights

Tesla Motors, led by high-profile CEO Elon In February 2017, Jose Moran, a four-year Musk, is a leading U.S. manufacturer of employee at Tesla, published a blog post electric vehicles, with an auto assembly at Medium.com detailing health and plant at an auto assembly plant in safety problems at the company. “I often Fremont, California. According to feel like I am working for a company of the testimony from workers, research by future under working conditions of the National COSH affiliate Worksafe, and past,” he wrote. recent citations by Cal/OSHA, Tesla’s Most of my 5,000-plus coworkers clean cars are produced by workers who work well over 40 hours a week, must endure dirty, unsafe working including excessive mandatory conditions.

37 overtime. The hard, manual labor Injury rates at the company “topped some we put in to make Tesla successful industries commonly associated with risky is done at great risk to our bodies. work, such as sawmills and Preventable injuries happen often. slaughterhouses,” reported the Los In addition to long working hours, Angeles Times. “Tesla: Is Safety Sacrificed machinery is often not to Production?” asked EHS Today. ergonomically compatible with our In January 2018 Cal/OSHA cited Tesla bodies… A few months ago, six out Motors for failure to provide legally of eight people in my work team required information and training to were out on medical leave at the workers who handle hazardous chemicals same time due to various work- at the Fremont plant, including failure to related injuries provide results of air monitoring inside the plant. According to the San Francisco Worksafe, a National COSH affiliate based Chronicle, Tesla was cited for more than in Oakland, issued reports in May 2017 30 safety and health violations between and again in December 2017, showing 2012 and 2017. data which confirmed concerns raised by Moran and other Tesla workers. Key In February, Tesla Vice President for findings: Environmental, Health, and Safety Laurie Shelby claimed the company’s recordable ● Recordable injuries for workers at injury rate “has improved nearly 25% Tesla Motors were 31 percent higher percent from 2016 and is now equivalent than for the rest of the automotive to the most recent published industry industry in 2015 and 2016. A average.” But an investigation by recordable injury or illness, as defined RevealNews.org found that Tesla isn’t by OSHA, requires medical treatment really reducing injuries – just failing to beyond first aid. report them accurately. ● The rate of serious injuries among After reviewing OSHA records and Tesla workers, requiring days away interviewing workers, reporters Will Evans from work, restricted duty or job and Alyssa Jeong Perry concluded that transfer, was also much higher at Tesla “has failed to report some of its Tesla than at other auto factories: serious injuries on legally mandated more than double the industry average reports, making the company’s injury in 2015 and 83 percent higher in numbers look better than they actually 2016. are.”

Agenda for Action: Tesla workers Win Changes, Press for Union Rights

● Despite attempts by Tesla management to intimidate them, Tesla workers are organizing to form their own union and taking their concerns public.

● As a result, workers have already won significant gains, including: ü Raises equaling $2.00 an hour ü Responses to some – not all – the safety concerns identified in Worksafe reports ü Improvements in Tesla’s confidentiality policy

• Union supporters at Tesla say these gains – and other workplace issues – should be addressed in a negotiated union contract, so Tesla cannot make unilateral policy changes.

Sources: RevealNews.org, “Tesla says its factory is safer. But it left injuries off the books,” April 16, 2018 A Fair Future at Tesla, Facebook page, accessed April 4, 2018; Jalopnik.com, Tesla, “Becoming the Safest Car Factory in the World,” Feb. 4, 2018;“California cites Tesla for poor hazardous chemical training at factory,” Jan. 24, 2018; Worksafe, “Analysis of Tesla Injury Rates: 2014 to 2017,” May 24, 2017; “December 2017 Update”, December 2017; EHS Today, “Tesla: Is Safety Sacrificed to Production?” June 12, 2017; Los Angeles Times, “Tesla had worse safety records than slaughterhouses and sawmills,” May 25, 2017; Medium.com, “Time for Tesla to Listen,” Feb. 9, 2017

VERLA INTERNATIONAL New Windsor, New York

● November 20, 2017 explosion at cosmetics plant kills William Huntington, 57

● 125 workers injured, eight firefighters hospitalized

● Verla workers report “an utter lack of occupational health, safety and evacuation training and no protective equipment.”

● Safety consultant says disaster was “easily preventable”

William Huntington, 57, was killed on safety consultant, reviewed the video and November 20, 2017 after an explosion at told the Times Record Herald that the his workplace, a cosmetics factory owned tragic explosion and loss of life was “easily by Verla International in Newburgh, New preventable.” York. The Times Record Herald reports that Orange County fire investigators say The video shows a highly flammable the explosion was “triggered by a spark chemical called hexamethyldisiloxane generated when an employee wiped the (HMDZ) being drained out of a blue barrel, residue of a flammable chemical from just before a spark ignited the fire and atop a tank as the volatile liquid was being explosion. poured in from a barrel.” “Pouring out a container of HMDZ is

The newspaper also reports that just a commonly known to create a lot of static year prior to the deadly explosion, the U.S. discharge,” Angelo told the newspaper. Occupational Safety and Health “It’s a really cheap and simple fix for the Administration (OSHA) cited Verla for “the company to ground (the tank, the barrel unsafe practices blamed for the deadly and the metal arm). The incident calls into blaze.” The company was charged for question the company’s administrative failing to properly store and ground controls and its engineering controls.” containers of flammable liquid. Workers at Verla have also expressed

Between 2013 and 2016, Verla was cited grave concerns about the company’s 19 times by OSHA, including thirteen safety practices. At a December 2017 “serious” violations. Violations include forum sponsored by the Workers’ Justice failure to provide “maintenance, Center of New York, workers reported safeguards and operational features for nosebleeds and other health issues they exit routes, … eye and face protection, believe are caused of exposure to respiratory protection, and medical chemicals inside the plant. services and first aid.” Despite the presence of hazardous An internal company video, released by chemicals used in the production of Orange County officials, shows in real time cosmetics, Verla workers reported they the incident that led to the horrific had received no occupational health, explosion. Kyle Angelo, an independent safety, and evacuation training. The only

40 safety equipment they were given, workers the fatal explosion. “We know these said, were “paper masks and hair nets violations were deemed ‘serious,’ and we aimed at keeping saliva and hair from know that some of these sloppy and contaminating products.” dangerous workplace conditions contributed to the spread of the fire.” “We know Verla was a repeat offender,” said Senator Charles Schumer following

Agenda for Action: OSHA Investigation Underway, Assistance Offered to Workers

• An OSHA investigation of the causes of the tragic November 2017 explosion at Verla International is still underway.

• The Worker Justice Center of New York and the New York State Department of Labor have offered health, safety and legal resources to workers in the aftermath of the explosion.

Sources: FIOS 1 News, “Dept. of Labor helping workers affected by cosmetics factory fire,” Dec. 7, 2017; Times Herald-Record, “Advocate: Verla workers described unsafe conditions” Dec. 7, 2017; Times Herald-Record, “Factory workers, families concerned about safety after deadly fire,” Dec. 3, 2017; WABC-TV, “Worker ID'd after body found in New Windsor cosmetics plant following explosions, fire,” Nov. 21, 2017; USA Today, “One missing, nearly 40 hurt in cosmetics factory explosions, fire,” Nov 20, 2017

WASTE MANAGEMENT Houston, Texas

• 23-Year old worker killed at a recycling facility

• Company failed to lockout/tagout machinery during repair

• Waste Management, the nation’s largest waste disposal company, has been cited more than 60 times by OSHA, with nearly $1 million in fines.

Eric “Easy” Russell, died on the job at age 24

At 4:30 a.m. on February 22, 2017, Eric energy sources while a machine is being "Easy" Russell, 24 was working at a repaired. This is a deadly and well-known Greenstar Mid- America recycling hazard, which can claim the lives of operation in Akron OH. He was crushed to workers like Eric Russell who are death when he became caught inside a attempting to keep equipment running so Machinex single-ram open ended baler. they can do their jobs. The tragedy occurred when Russell was attempting to fix two broken wires inside OSHA proposed a fine of $25,350, the case was settled for $12,675. the baler chamber. The machine cycled, crushing him to death. Luis Castellan, who worked at a Greenstar recycling plant in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Following an investigation, OSHA cited was killed on the job in 2011 when a bale Greenstar Mid-America for a serious of recycling materials fell on top of him violation, failing to lock out and tag out and crushed him to death. David Russell,

who worked at the same plant, died in paid significantly less than their public 1999, died after an unprotected fall from sector counterparts.” a catwalk. According to ViolationTracker.com, Waste While recycling provides economic and Management was cited by OSHA and the environmental benefits for municipalities, Mine Safety and Health Administration for collecting and sorting recyclable materials 68 health and safety violations between is an extremely hazardous occupation. 2000 and 2017, with a total of nearly $1 According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor million in fines. Statistics, recycling workers are injured at a rate nearly two-and-a-half times the During 2017, Waste Management and its average for all workers. Seventeen were affiliates had 26 inspections from OSHA killed on the job in recycling facilities agencies, arising from complaints, injury between 2011 and 2013. reports (including an amputation) and referrals from other agencies such as the Greenstar Mid-America is a subsidiary of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Waste Management, the nation’s largest Fourteen of the inspections resulted in waste disposal company. The multi-billion- findings of safety violations; at only one of dollar company, reports the Center for these worksites are workers represented Media and Democracy, “has been a by a union. driving force in the privatization” of refuse collection, a service traditionally provided As noted above (see page 10), workers by municipalities and public employees. with a voice on the job can participate in Private-sector workers at Waste effective union management safety Management, the Center reports, “are programs, which can reduce on-the-job illnesses, injuries and fatalities.

Agenda for Action: Stronger Safety Requirements; End Use of Temporary Workers

• City governments to evaluate the health and safety records of recycling companies and require these companies to have comprehensive worker safety programs.

• Recycling industry to end the use of temporary workers.

• Cities to enact strong community education programs for greater household separation of waste to minimize dangerous contaminants entering the recycling stream.

Sources: Good Jobs First, “Violation Tracker Parent Company Summary – Waste Management,” accessed Apr. 17, 2018; Center for Media and Democracy, “Waste Management,” accessed Apr. 17, 2018; U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, “Inspection: 1212219.015 - Greenstar Mid America, LLC,” 2017; Cleveland.com, “Akron recycling facility employee killed in baler accident,” Feb. 22, 2017; Gaia, Partnership for Working Families, MassCOSH and National COSH, “Sustainable and Safe Recycling: Protecting Workers Who Protect the Planet,” 2015; Allentown Morning Call, “Northampton recycling plant worker injured on the job dies,” Oct. 3, 2011

THE COSH NETWORK

National COSH serves as a convener and clearinghouse for the COSH Network, which includes local worker health and safety coalitions in communities across the United States. We work together to coordinate and share information about workplace safety, provide training for workers and advocate for elimination of preventable hazards in the workplace.

NATIONAL OFFICES National COSH – West National COSH – East 3727 Camino del Rio South, Suite 210 Somerville, MA San Diego, CA 92108

COSH GROUPS Connecticut Council on Knox Area Worker Mid-State New York Occupational Safety & Memorial Day COSH Health (ConnectiCOSH) Committee 701 W. State St. 683 N. Mountain Rd, 865-573-0655 Ithaca, NY 14850 Newington, CT 06111 607-275-9560 860- 953- 2674 South Florida Interfaith www.connecticosh.org Worker Justice NH Coalition for 150 SW 13th Avenue Occupational Safety and Central New York Miami, FL 33135 Health (NHCOSH) Occupational Health 305-598-1404 161 Londonderry Clinic www.sfiwj.org Turnpike 6712 Brooklawn Parkway Hookset, NH 03106 Syracuse, NY 13211 Maine Labor Group on 603-232-4406 315-432-8899 Health (MLGH) www.upstate.edu/cnyohcc PO Box 5197 New Jersey Work Augusta, ME 04332 Environment Council Equality State www.mlgh.org (NJWEC) Policy Center 207-622-7823 7 Dunmore Ave 419 S 5th St East Ewing, NJ 08618 Laramie, WY 82070 Massachusetts Coalition 609-882-6100 307-228-4163 for Occupational Safety www.njwec.org www.equalitystate.org and Health (MassCOSH) New York Committee for Fe y Justicia 1532B Dorchester Ave. Occupational Safety and Worker Center Dorchester, MA 02122 Health (NYCOSH) 1805 W Alabama St. 617-825-7233 61 Broadway, Ste. 1710 Houston, TX 77098 www.masscosh.org NY, NY 10006 832-755-7013 212-227-6440 (o) www.houstonworkers.org www.nycosh.org

North East NY Coalition for Western NY Council on Occupational Safety Occupational Safety and and Health (NENYCOSH) Health (WNYCOSH) P.O Box 38098 2495 Main St., Ste 438 Albany, NY 12203 Buffalo, NY 14214 716-833-5416 Northwest Arkansas www.wnycosh.org Worker’s Justice Center 210 S Thompson St. Wisconsin Committee on Springdale, AR 72764 Occupational Safety and 479-750-8015 Health (WisCOSH) www.nwajc.org Milwaukee, WI 414-933-2338 Philadelphia Area Project on www.wiscosh.org Occupational Safety and Health (PhilaPOSH) Worksafe 3001 Walnut St., 5th Fl 55 Harrison St. Ste. 400 Philadelphia, PA 19104 Oakland, CA 94607 215-386-7000 510-302-1011 www.philaposh.org www.worksafe.org

RI Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (RICOSH) 741 Westminster St., Providence, RI 02903 401-751-2015

Safe Jobs Oregon NW Workers’ Justice Project 812 SW Washington St Portland, Oregon 97205 503-525-8454 x 13

So. California Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (SoCalCOSH) 1000 N Alameda St Los Angeles, CA 90012 310.435.1423 www.socalcosh.com